STUDYING ABROAD

Writing in the current Harpers magazine, Olaf Axelgaard (a convenient pseudonym) examines the "scholastic tourist trade" and finds it sadly wanting. He tells amusing stories of incompetent loafers who wander around the continent, and return to the welcoming arms of an alma mater hypnotized by the "music of the Sorbonne." There has been a and decadence; fifty years ago, the writer claims, the American group studying in Europe were a driving force in education. Now the "hrummagen scholarship" has caused the "goddess Alma Mater to resemble the bitch goddess of William James." According to this authority, the average student goes abroad, finds he is unable to speak the language, goes dutifully to a few operas, and finally settles down to an intensive study of the night clubs of Europe.

As is usual in general condemnations, Mr. Axelgaard finds it convenient to deal in specific personalities. Many are amusing and pertinent, especially that relating the scholastic adventures of Harley Sykes, zoology instructor at West Carolina University. After considerable wire-pulling, Sykes receives a stipend which enables him to study at Leipsic under the famed Professor Brockholtz. Sykes is not exactly sure as to the reasons for his selection, but the names are at least impressive. Arrived at Leipsic, the picaresque scholar is set to work counting blood corpuscles in white mice. A year later, his knowledge burnished by contact with European culture, Sykes returns to capitalize a new prestige.

Such stories are amusing and a bit startling but the article loses force through its aura of unsubstantiated generalization. The condemnation does not hold for all men who study abroad; many universities, especially the larger institutions, are strict in their selection of scholarship men, and the results justify such a course. But Mr. Axelgaard's investigation is nonetheless valuable. Scholarship grants should obviously not be bestowed on incompetents like Sykes. That they are is due largely to the preposterous trust that America reposes in education, especially foreign education. In turning the sharp light of his wit upon such individual cases, Mr. Axelgaard has probably given many a college a well-timed pinch where pinches might well have been administered before.